Online Escape: Human Tetris

Rumor Mill: Aurora's Phillips to fight Duddy?

Rumor has it that Aurora's own IBF Light Middleweight champion Verno Phillips (42-10, 21 KOs) may be making his title defense against undefeated Irish phenom John Duddy (25-0, 17).

For Duddy, a natural middleweight, it will new ground. He has never fought below 155 pounds – light middleweights need to weigh in at 154.

Phillips has fought between 147 and 160 his entire career. Making weight won't be a problem for him, but age could be. At 38, he's no spring chicken. Duddy, who's nine years younger, is in the prime of his career.

Duddy is also a completely different fighter than Cory Spinks, who Phillips defeated for the title. Spinks is a slow, methodic defensive specialist. Duddy hits you until you fall down.

The thrilla from Manila

Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns did it back in the 80s.

Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. did it more recently.

And now boxer Manny Pacquiao joins this select group of men who have won world titles at five different weight classes after beating down former WBC Lightweight Champion David Diaz June 28 in Las Vegas.

Alright, so Pacquiao technically won The Ring magazine's featherweight lineal title from Barrera in 2003 and not one of the big four (IBF, WBC, WBA and, to a lesser extent, the WBO). But Barrera was the WBC champion before he decided to vacate the title.

Regardless, Pacquiao is still the first Asian boxer to win a major title at four different weight divisions and is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world since Mayweather retired.

At his essence, Pacquiao is a crowd-pleasing brawler, someone who is willing to go punch-for-punch until someone falls. But he's a brawler who's faster and stronger than everyone who gets in the ring with him. And ever since he's improved his footwork after his first fight against Erik Morales, he's been a beast.

And his feats don't stop in the ring.

According to The Philippine Star, the Metro Manila police reported no crimes as, apparently, everyone stayed in to watch him dismantle Diaz.

Now the question is, where does he go from here?

He has plenty of high-profile opponents to battle at 135 from Nate Campbell to Joel Casamayor, but they're all fighting one another in September. This means Pacquiao wouldn't have a crack at them until early 2009.

There's 130-pound WBA champion Edwin Valero who would be a fun fight. The fight would probably have to take place overseas since Valero isn't cleared to fight in the U.S. with the exception of Texas.

There's also the less-likely option of moving up to junior welterweight and fight Ricky Hatton. Hatton has about an inch in height on Pacquiao, but it would be a high-profile match with plenty of action.

Then there's the rumor of meeting Oscar De La Hoya at 147 pounds. Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach told ESPN.com that they'd be willing to fight at 147 if the money's right.

Pacman vs. the Golden Boy would be an interesting and entertaining match-up, but my bet is that he's probably going to fight Valero before the end of the year – probably in Macau or Tokyo.

But whatever happens, this pride of the Philippines has captured the hearts of imaginations of fans around the world.

Online Escape: Creative pole vaulting

The Japanese sure have a lot of time on their hands.

False alarm

David Ho, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had an interesting plane trip recently. On a flight from New York to Las Vegas, he was pulled off of a plane because a woman caught him putting an Airborne tablet into a bottle of water and called the cops.

"I didn't expect a return to the gate. Certainly not the Port Authority Police car waiting for us and four more cars and trucks speeding our way. I was really surprised by the two guys in black body armor who strode toward the front of the plane with automatic weapons."

He was questioned by the police, but they soon figured out that he was harmless.

In his piece, he mentions that the officer who questioned him seemed to be annoyed by the amount of false claims he has to deal with.

I can see the PSA announcement now:
So remember minorities, the next you fly, watch what you do because even the most ordinary routines can be seen as a terrorist threat.

Dang, makes me think twice about bringing Alka Seltzer the next time I fly.

Online Escape: Space bears

Help! These space bears make me do crazy things!

My inner fanboy

I've been a comic book collector ever since I was 7 years old. I still have the very first one I ever owned: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures," Vol. 2, No. 23.

But it took a couple more years before I started to read the "real" comics. I still remember that day in July 1993 when I picked up a copy of "Uncanny X-Men" No. 302.

The floodgates were opened.

Over the next seven years, I became an avid reader of Marvel Comics, reading all the X-titles, while staying current with various other books such as "Avengers West Coast" and a few others. Since then, I've been an on-again, off-again collector, picking up a few titles here and there, but never staying consistant.

However, I recently started collecting again. It's a little strange to actually have money to spend on leisure reading. Sure I pick up novels, but there's something about comic books that creates nostalgia, taking me back to my childhood. And some of the stories are amazingly written. (If you get a chance, go pick up a copy of Mark Millar's "Kick-Ass")

Last night I pulled out my two long boxes of comics filled with hundreds of comics from my youth. I had forgotten how extensive my collection was. It was fun seeing how some of the issues I owned are worth more than $50, according to the books.

Granted, they would probably only garner $15 to $25 on eBay, but the monetary value doesn't matter. It's the stories inside them that do.

I haven't had a chance to finish categorizing them yet, but it's been fun picking up the forgotten treasures in my collection and reading them all over again.

Money makers (the ones that actually have some monetary value): "Ultimate Spider-Man" #5 ($75, supposedly), "Ultimate Spider-Man" #2 car cover ($50), a few other "Ultimate Spider-Mans" that are $15-30 (notice a trend?)

Issues that took me forever to hunt down: "Gambit" #1 Gold foil, "Marvel Mangaverse" #1

Comics that make me glad I read comics: "Kick-Ass," "JLA/Avengers," "Secret Invasion"